We�re having a
lot of problems with false positives since upgrading to ModusMail 3. In
fact, I�d say a substantial number of customers have asked us to disable
spam filtering on their accounts since the upgrade. Though I don�t have
a specific percentage, I�d guess that around 10% of our customers with
spam filtering enabled have asked us to disable it. I feel this is a
substantial number as we do not enable spam filtering by default on our
customers� accounts. In other words, these were customers that asked us
to enable it for them at some point in the past.
I mention this
not to start a debate but because I feel we must be doing something
different then the rest of you. When customers ask for spam filtering,
we set them at strong. Back on ModusMail 1.4, we had all of the extreme
scripts enabled because, even at extreme, we had remarkably few false
positives. When we upgraded to version 3, we figured that, at strong, if
they complain about false positives, we could clock them down to normal.
If they complain that spam is still getting through, we can push them up
to extreme. We have room either way.
Nevertheless,
false positives have been a real problem for us. There are several types
of false positives which are clearly identifiable. These include dating
service correspondences, real estate notifications, stock market trade
notifications, airline rewards and discount e-mails, monthly banking
statements, etc. These are all obviously automated mailings and probably
very difficult to differentiate from spam. Nevertheless, in each of
these cases, customers have specifically signed up for the messages and
the messages are personalized in some way or another for them. They are
certainly not spam, and our customers definitely want
them.
The worst,
however, is the false positives on personal correspondences. We�ve had a
fair number of these reported to our staff. In fact, we run spam
filtering on our staff addresses and have experienced false positives on
personal correspondences ourselves. Unfortunately, most of these tend to
be after fact. In other words, we can�t afford to keep mail around in
the quarantine long enough to report much of these false positives �
provided that the customer even agrees to let us report it in the first
place.
It�s a
difficult subject to address. Most of the false positives are of a
personal nature and not something that we can report to Vircom. We�ve
had a fair amount of success white listing banks, online trading
companies, dating services and such, but this doesn�t really solve the
problem: Vircom cannot improve their spam filtering without feedback,
and we can�t provide feedback without permission from the
customer.
So, I guess I�m
asking, what are the rest of you doing? Does the �normal� setting
produce substantially less false positives? Is that what everyone else
is using? Or does everyone else consider bulk e-mail, even personalized
bulk e-mail from one�s bank or realtor or investment company or
whatever, to be spam?
I guess I don�t
understand how people can claim 98% catch rate and less than a .1% false
positive rate. At strong, we�re seeing a very good catch rate � maybe
even as high as 98% on some accounts. However, we�re seeing a much
higher false positive rate. More importantly, we�re receiving a lot of
flack from our customers.
Ben
Rogers
http://www.c4.net
v.508.240.0051
f.508.240.0057
-----Original
Message-----
From:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Phil Hart
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2003
5:44 PM
To:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [Modus] Anti-Spam
company
Same experience
here, company called spam squelcher or something like that. they
had a hardware based product that would sit just behind our
router. it would scan traffic and block certian ips and stuff like
that. wanted a ton of money for it. i suggested he take a
look at modusmail, told him we no longer had a spam problem at all,
false positives were extremely low all that stuff. I should of
tried to sell him Modusmail so i could get a
referral!
-----Original
Message-----
From:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mako
Internet
Sent:
Tuesday, December 09, 2003 5:17 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [Modus] Anti-Spam
company
I just had a
company call me up trying to sell me anti-spam server software, I told
them I had one already in which I was already pleased. the man
on the line was intriged and started to ask questions. I told
him I was seeing catch rates for my boxes at 98%+ (alot of mine are
more like 99.9%) so he asked about false positives I said I see
less than .1%. Next he asked about price and how many users we
had, he was so floored by everything I had compared to what he was
selling he was speachless, finally he said I am sorry I can not help
you and promptly hungup. The last word I heard was wow.
Just thought I would share this funny experience with
you.
